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Notice to Readers: National Arthritis Month --- May 2005
May is National Arthritis Month. This year, the Arthritis Foundation is urging persons with arthritis to get active for better health. Regular moderate physical activity improves the health and function of joints and reduces the risk for other chronic conditions. Physical activity helps protect joints by strengthening muscles and improving balance and joint
nutrition, which leads to better flexibility, joint motion, and physical function. Long-term benefits include reduced pain, improved
mental health, and delayed disability (1).
Walking is an ideal activity for most persons with arthritis because it is low impact, can be incorporated into usual
daily activities, and does not require special equipment or facilities. A free copy of the
Arthritis Today Walking Guide is available
at http://www.arthritis.org or by telephone, 1-800-568-4045. CDC, along with 36 state arthritis programs, the
Arthritis Foundation, and other organizations, continue to implement the
National Arthritis Action Plan: A Public Health Strategy
(1) to promote progress toward achieving the arthritis-related objectives in
Healthy People 2010 (2).
Reference
Arthritis Foundation, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, CDC. National arthritis action plan: a public health strategy. Atlanta, GA: Arthritis Foundation; 1999. Available at
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/pdf/naap.pdf.
US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy people 2010 (conference ed, in 2 vols). Washington, DC: US Department of Health and
Human Services; 2000. Available at http://www.health.gov/healthypeople.
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Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content
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